In the oil and gas industry, wells are drilled into the earth to gain access to the hydrocarbon bearing zones. Once these wells are drilled, they are attached to flow lines that allow these hydrocarbons to be transported to facilities that would further refine these hydrocarbons for useful sale. These flow lines can be very long, sometimes in excess of ten miles. In addition to the hydrocarbons, contaminants also flow through the flow lines. From time to time these flow lines can become blocked, sometimes from unwanted contaminants such as sand, and other times with hydrates or paraffin produced by the flow of hydrocarbons.
Conventional techniques to remove these blockages include the use of chemicals to dissolve the blockage, hydraulic pressure to move the blockage, and mechanical methods such as by advancing a continuous length of hollow coiled tubing with attached tubing head into the flow line. When coiled tubing is utilized, as a section of the continuous tubing is pushed into the flow line, fluid is pumped through the tubing head to wash the flow line blockage away and return the contaminants to the surface for disposal. The distance of coiled tubing travel in a flow line is typically limited due to frictional forces that halt the forward progress of the coiled tubing. Sometimes coiled tubing progress is halted after it is advanced as little as 5,000 feet depending on the flow line configuration. To increase the distance that the coiled tubing can travel in these flow lines and further improve the washing or cleaning of the line, an improved coiled tubing head and technique is required.